Cape Canaveral Seems To Have Survived Hurricane Matthew

As Hurricane Matthew approached Florida, it looked like the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral would be right in the storm's path. The center was closed to the public and most of the employees were evacuated. Thankfully, right as the storm approached, the winds weakened and shifted directions. Now, the remaining employees on site are beginning to assess the damage.

To everyone's relief, the damages are minor, and the center will reopen to the public today.

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"We dodged a bit of a bullet last night with things shifting to the east and the storm being less intense overall," wrote Brig. Gen. Wayne Monteith, commander of the 45th Space Wing, in a Facebook post Friday. "That said, we are not out of the woods yet and your safety remains my primary concern."

"If it had been a direct hit, we would have had far more serious damage than we had that would have been more critical," KSC spokesman George Diller told Florida Today. "The kind of damage we have now is what I'd call collateral damage. We're not seeing anything to flight hardware yet that we know of."

Inspection for damage began almost immediately after the winds died down on Friday, and aerial inspections began on Saturday. They revealed "some isolated roof damage, damaged support buildings, a few downed power lines, and limited water intrusion," according to NASA.